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In our parish, during the Lord’s Prayer, we hold hands. I have heard that this is not an acceptable practice. Can you please tell me what is and where I can find answers to similar questions?

Full Question

In our parish, during the Lord’s Prayer, we hold hands. I have heard that this is not an acceptable practice. Can you please tell me what is and where I can find answers to similar questions?

Answer

Jimmy Akin’s book Mass Confusion, available at shop.catholic.com, is an excellent resource for questions like this. Concerning holding hands during the Our Father, Jimmy states, “The Holy See has not ruled directly on this issue. In a response to a query, however, the Holy See stated that holding hands ‘is a liturgical gesture introduced spontaneously but on personal initiative; it is not in the rubrics’ . . . For this reason, no one can be required to hold hands during the Our Father” (161). Jimmy describes the practice as “discouraged.”

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Praise God and Thank Him: Biblical Keys For a Joyful Life
When faced with difficulties, our response is typically poorer than we would like and is often a result of the way we were raised. But what if we could learn a new way to respond to the difficult situations of our lives?
The Bible holds powerful keys to see our situations from God’s perspective, and it is full of action items that can lead us into a deeper trust in God.
Apologist and speaker Jeff Cavins first focuses on what biblical praise is and how you can expand your praise vocabulary in order to face any difficulty life brings. In the second part of the book, he discusses thanksgiving, the attitude of gratitude that is the natural expression of praise. Jeff includes practical tips on incorporating thanksgiving into daily life.

"To become a hostage in the hands of the infidels, if that is necessary for the deliverance of Christ's faithful."

~ The fourth vow of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom (Mercedarians), founded in the thirteenth century by St. Peter Nolasco, which rescued some half-million slaves between the years 1218 and 1632.